IQMS Blog for Manufacturing ERP Expertise

At the most basic level, a warehouse management system (WMS) is a computerized program for controlling and managing the movement and storage of input materials and finished goods in your warehouse. WMS software guides inventory receiving and put-away, optimizes picking and shipping of orders and advises on inventory replenishment. In the end, the overall goal of a WMS program is to achieve a paperless environment that directs your employees automatically on the optimal picking, put-away and shipping of your products.

It seems like one of the recent trends in ERP software functionality is a renewed focus on shop floor control. This trend has prompted many ERP companies to begin selling third-party shop floor systems that are "integrated" with their ERP software.

Hellllooooooo, Las Vegas! I have been waiting weeks for the arrival of User Group 2014 and finally, after two years in the making, it is here! And let me tell you, Day 1 did not disappoint - It was a whirlwind of networking, learning and fun. If you were unable to attend User Group 2014, let me give you a quick peek into what you missed today:

I am fortunate to be able to call myself the Mom of a beautiful baby girl named Avery. Upon meeting her for the first time, many acquaintances compared her name to the label and office supply producer of the same moniker. Some even followed this parallel with a joke along the lines of: Well, that's a name that will "stick!" And even though I groaned at these jokes, they did later get me thinking about labels.

Every day, we spend a lot of time looking around for things in our lives and if you think about it, we waste a lot of time doing this activity. Yes, some of us have routines that we stick to (trust me, I am guilty of that), but there are times the routine just does not work. For example, we try to always put food in a certain place in the cabinets and make sure that our keys are on the hook, etc. But as humans, we have our moments where we fail in this due to something else taking its place or we just get rushed. Unfortunately, many of us are all too familiar with that moment of panic when we realize the keys are not where they belong and so we must play everyone’s favorite game: Hide and Seek. Now take a moment and think about the manufacturers out there who are doing this on a massive scale in their warehouses.

What comes to mind when you hear the word "lean?" Being a few months into 2014, what you might think of is that New Year's resolution that you've already given up on. However, if you're in manufacturing, one area that is at the top of your "lean" list is not going to the gym, but rather inventory control. Being lean in business is the key to success and when it comes to inventory control, what better tool do you have to help you get there than your ERP system?

At IQMS, we are proud to support customer-driven design and development of our manufacturing ERP and MES software. The two-way dialogue and relationships we foster with our clients is a cornerstone of our company: Our manufacturers feel comfortable coming to us with their challenges and we welcome the opportunity to collaborate with them on solutions. But this doesn’t mean that we only develop based on client suggestions. We have a strategic product road map of where we want our comprehensive ERP and MES solution to travel, with the needs of our customers acting as a compass.

IQMS' Automation Group is working on four new mobile applications that are bound to be popular: Bill of Lading Signature Capture, Carton Builder, Inventory Transactions and Maintenance and Repair Operations (MRO) are joining IQMS' suite of mobile apps and the IQMS Application Manager!

The IQMS Development and Automation staff are working on some exciting new development projects for 2013, over and above the hundreds of software enhancement requests (SERs) that we receive from our customers every month through the customer support website, MyIQMS. We believe that our commitment to continuous improvement has been one of the keys to our high growth and overall success.